When doctors tell you that your mysterious gut pain and bloating is all in your mind, it’s due to stress, and you just have to go away and learn to relax – do you feel guilty? Do you think, ‘The stress is my fault, I must be a very negative person,’ and get even more stressed?
When you try all those products that are advertised to overcome IBS, and they don’t work, do you think it’s your fault? ‘Obviously it works for everyone else, otherwise the manufacturers wouldn’t keep on advertising them and people wouldn’t keep on buying them!’
Let me tell you, it’s not in your mind – it’s not your fault, and you’re never going to get rid of IBS by eating more whole-grain foods, or pro-biotic yoghurts, or going on a low-fat diet, or giving up coffee and red meat – or any of the tired old recommendations.
OK – maybe for a few weeks you’ll notice a slight relief of symptoms – or a change in symptoms – but it won’t last. I know, because I tried them all for years, and they all failed.
The only thing that was successful – and still is successful after 25 years – is the low-starch diet. You see, your gut is full of bacteria, some good and some bad. The bad bacteria, klebsiella in particular, live on undigested starch in your gut. When you cut down or eliminate starch, the bacteria has nothing to live on and starves to death. And your gut pain and bloating disappears. The bacteria has been causing fermentation in your gut – and you know what happens when fermentation occurs? Gas! And gas produces pain and bloating.
There are plenty of low-starch foods to eat and cook – over 200 recipes and ideas for snacks. It’s all in my book, The IBS Low-Starch Diet by Carol Sinclair. The Low-Starch Diet works!